Getting closer to having chickens - borrowing the neighbour ones!

My raised garden beds have been in place a while, but production has not been as good as I expected. The zucchini plants were eaten and the are tomato seedlings the same and not produced even one tomato. The soil has dropped a bit and while one of the beds is full of nasturtions at the moment the second one hosts a slater megatropolis. I tried several ways to get rid of the beast, including hand picking them. The only way to get rid of these beasts in any sensible way was to finally get hens.

Our council allows to have poultry. There are local laws under the Health Act that makes the following specifications, in Division 4:

1. Poultry and pigeons shall be kept overnight in a properly constructed and securely fastened enclosure. The enclosure (chicken coop) is to have a smooth concrete floor at least 50mm thick so that it can be adequately cleaned.
2. The associated run area should be fenced to prevent poultry coming within 15 metres of any dwelling or 18 metres of any street. A free range area of 30 square metres is recommended.
3. All enclosures within which poultry are kept shall be maintained at all times in a clean condition. At the direction of an Environmental Health Officer you must adequately clean or re-position an enclosure that does not meet adequate hygiene or structural requirements. 
4. A combined total of not more than 12 poultry and pigeons may be kept outside the prohibited area.
5. No roosters are permitted to be kept on any premises, but no roosters.

We are lucky as the property is neither on commercial land nor in the part of town where poultry is not allowed at all, which is closer to the centre of Perth. Our chicken coop is next to the neighbours garage, which not a dwelling, as this only applies to buildings for human habitation. Not sure why they mandate a distance to the next dwelling, probably for hygienic purposes, public health issues. We don't quite make it with that mandated distance, but there is a significant distance. The total free range area is only about 15 square metre, but if 30m3 is right for 12 chooks, that will do for the number I plan to have which is 5 at most! The guidelines need updating. To encourage people to grow food in an urban setting, the restrictions should be limited on how people can do this, as long as public health concerns are met.

After we build the fence we got the neighbour's hens over for a day. They loved it and got stuck into the slaters right away. However at night time they were reluctant to slip back through the very small gap in the fence and the neighbour was not happy for the chooks to stay over night. The part of the fance we had taken out was simply not big enough for the chicken to get through comfortably and the birds were scared to push their way back, due to the lack of motivation at the end of the day, no green grass being in sight. We chucked them back over the fence by hand the next day and the trial was abandonned

Soon the chicken are coming over for good, the hen house should be finished by tomorrow morning, the laying box is done. We already dig over the neighbours backyard to get ready for planting radishes and lettuces. Two rats jumped out of her compost scampering for shelter, a sign that the compost was much too dry anyway. We enhanced the soil with two bags of sheep and cow manure and the rain today has watered it in beautifully. Looking good, ready for seedlings!

Lemon and avocado tree in the new garden bed, but not too much shade.

Summergrowth

In the past week the weather has been warm and mild, with temparatures in ths twenties. This has helped the plants speed up their growth. The pumpkins, cucumbers (if any?) and zucchinis now show their interesting colours, a splendid variation of greens. The growth in the second patch was most visible in the past week. As most seedlings have come up from my compost I am still not sure what plants they actually are. Only the zucchinis has started flowering so it might be a while until I find out what I have planted here.

Temperatures are predicted to be reaching the early thirties this weekend, but again falling at the start of next week. I have upped the watering but not by much. I still handwater each plant and am getting to know each of them pretty well.

As water is scarce and my water tank is only just over half full I will have to decide soon what to do with all the seedlings that are popping up everywhere from the compost.

I have started a small experiment with a hydroponic lettuce from the shops. It took us about a week to eat it and when only the roots were left I decided to plant it into the good compost next to the spring onions which are doing well here. After about a week it has come a fair way and new growth is sprouting. I tried this once before with some english spinach some years back, but probably the soil was not rich enough.  I only got a few leaves out of it. Growth was negligeable that time; the experiment failed. 

However, this picture already demonstrates that trying things over and over again is warranted and never loosing hope is the right choice for a keen gardener. Unfortunately the second pacth is not doing very well, with a lot of the capsicums eaten by snails and other pests. The spring onions have nearly disappeared and the beans are being eaten as soon as they pop up from the soil. I think it has something to so with the way we prepared the soil. This needs to be investigated further.

This week I attended a function by Greens Senator Scott Ludlam on Climate Change and picked up a great book from the stall of Environment House in Bayswater. I also renewed my membership with them.

This book is called One Magic Square . It is written by Lolo Houlbein on organic gardening in urban Australian backyards. It is a true treasure and has become my favourite reading material. If you are short of ideas for Christmas presents this year, buy copies of this book and give it to your friends who are not yet growing their veggies. And even for the experienced gardener this book holds many good new tips. It has inspired me to do a one square patch and plant a varieties of lettuces. A project for the coming weekend.

I can't wait!